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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25393228">Guilt and Consequences</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dessarious/pseuds/Dessarious'>Dessarious</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Parenting, Don't Like Don't Read, MLB, Mild Swearing, Mild mention of violence, OOC, Salt, lila redemption - sort of, non-canon, wth am I even doing?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:40:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,819</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25393228</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dessarious/pseuds/Dessarious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lila knew everything had gone way too far even if she still didn't understand how it happened. The only question now was what is she going to do about it?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>642</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Okay, so this is just something that wouldn’t leave me alone. It has absolutely nothing to do with my other fics and may actually be a one shot. (We all know that’s not something I do but hey I can hope). Anyway, I’ve always hated the way Lila’s character was done. For so many reasons. The biggest issue I had was that there’s never any explanation for her personality. Sure, there is a small percentage of people that are straight up evil, but not many and it’s lazy writing to make a character, villain or otherwise, with absolutely no reason to be the way they are. If you’re not going to flesh out a character don’t make them a focal point period. Okay I’ll stop ranting now. This is in no way canon, nor is it meant to be.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You told her what?!” Adrien flinched as Lila yelled in his face but she didn’t care. This idiot had completely destroyed all her plans with no thought what so ever. How had things gotten so bad?</p><p>“It doesn’t do any good to put more pressure on the situation. I told Marinette that you’d come around once you got the attention you wanted, so she should just let it go. Take the high road.” She was dangerously close to punching him in his sanctimonious face. The only thing stopping her was that getting arrested for assault wasn’t something she wanted to experience right now. Not to mention she now had to try and fix this insanity.</p><p>“That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Ignoring things may work with paparazzi but that is not how you should deal with anything else. More often than not ignoring a problem just makes it worse.</p><p>“I’ve been ignoring Chloe’s bad behavior for years and she’s getting better.” Lila felt like her head was going to explode. As good as Adrien was in science he apparently didn’t understand causal relationships. The boy was far too dense to survive in the real world.</p><p>“As I understand things, Chloe didn’t start improving until Marinette stood up to her and Ladybug called her out on her bad behavior. Your enabling simply allowed her to continue what she was doing without consequences. People don’t change without a reason Adrien. Most need a pretty enticing incentive to do anything out of the norm.” She couldn’t deal with this anymore. Lila knew that she wasn’t going to make him see the error in his thinking. Everyone thought of Adrien as a ray of sunshine but she’d seen first hand how hard he held onto ideas even when all the evidence pointed to the opposite conclusion. Instead she turned and walked away as he yelled justifications at her back. She knew he wouldn’t actually follow her because his ride should be there any second. He wouldn’t risk getting in trouble, no matter how much he wanted her to agree with him.</p><p>She didn’t even know where she was going at this point, just wandering randomly while she thought. Everything had gotten so out of hand. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before and she had absolutely no idea how to fix it, or even if it could be fixed. She didn’t think so. It’s like the perfect storm of stupid, incompetence, and compliance had coalesced into this mass of insanity that she couldn’t see a way out of. Why did everything have to be so complicated? She’d done the same thing dozens of times with the exact same result. Why did things have to turn out so differently this time?</p><p>Before she knew it Lila was standing in front of a building she had no wish to enter. She knew she had to, but honestly she would rather step into traffic. Still, if there was any hope of salvaging things this was where she had to start. She just hoped she’d be able to get out some sort of explanation before they threw her out. She took a deep breath before opening the door.</p><p>“Good morning! What can I do for you dear?” Lila hesitated. Surely Marinette had told her parents about what was going on, right?</p><p>“Madam, my name is Lila Rossi. I was hoping to talk to Marinette.” There was absolutely no recognition in the woman’s eyes. What the hell kind of alternate reality was she in? From everything she could gather Marinette had a great relationship with her parents. Even if she had let Adrien talk her into staying quiet at school, why would she hide what was going on from them?</p><p>“Of course, and you can call me Sabine dear, no need to be so formal.” She followed as Sabine led her up the stairs at the back of the bakery and into a little apartment. Lila had lived in a lot of places, but not one of them had ever said home the way this tiny space did. “Marinette’s room is up there. I have to get back down to the bakery, just knock before you go in.” Lila could only stare at the woman’s retreating back in panic. There was no way Marinette wanted her of all people anywhere near her room. She’d expected Sabine to get her to come out here. She looked back at the trapdoor with no idea how to proceed.</p><p>Eventually she worked up the nerve to climb the stairs. A few minutes and many attempts later, she managed a timid knock. There was a muffled ‘come in’ and Lila almost had a heart attack. Now what? Against her better judgement she slowly opened the door and poked her head up. She saw Marinette hunched over her sewing machine, not paying any attention to who had entered. But what caught her attention was the bruise on Marinette’s cheek and a strip of gauze around her forehead. Lila’s anger from earlier reignited with a passion and before she knew it she was in the room standing directly behind the girl.</p><p>“How could you listen to that moron’s advice?” She winced the moment the words came out of her mouth. That was not how she wanted to start this. Marinette jumped and actually fell off the chair. Lila flinched back at the fear in the girls eyes when they registered who she was.</p><p>“Wh- What are you doing here?” Marinette’s eyes were darting every which way, looking for escape routes or something to defend herself with most likely. It hurt knowing that this was all her fault.</p><p>“I… I didn’t mean to scare you.” Then why did you yell at her dumbass? “I’m here because…” Why exactly was she here? She really should have planned this out, or at least had any idea of what she was going to say. “I’m here because I need to apologize to you, and I think you deserve an explanation for why I apparently destroyed your life.” Marinette’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Lila couldn’t blame her.</p><p>“You want to apologize to me?” The skeptical tone caused her to break eye contact. It was well deserved but Lila didn’t even know where to start. She was a selfish creature by nature so apologies didn’t come naturally, but this was something that needed to be done.</p><p>“Yes. I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you because of me. I never thought…” She couldn’t continue. No apology and no explanation was good enough for what Marinette had gone through because of this mess. Lila didn’t even know everything because apparently the class had been bullying Marinette for over a month but they’d kept it from her because she was too ‘nice’ and wouldn’t have approved. How did you even begin to make up for something like that?</p><p>“You never thought what? That your plan to take away all my friends would affect me? That you making my school life a living hell would hurt me?” The girl sounded pissed and Lila couldn’t blame her but the tone sent her into her defensive mode anyway.</p><p>“I never thought anyone would believe the garbage coming out of my mouth!” Marinette blinked at her in confusion, all the fight suddenly gone.</p><p>“What?” Lila sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Where did she even start? None of this was going to make sense to Marinette. Honestly she wasn’t certain it made sense to her anymore either.</p><p>“I should probably start at the beginning.” Marinette motioned her to continue. “My mom is a diplomat, that wasn’t a lie. She’s something of a fixer. Basically when a situation has escalated too far they bring her in to smooth things over. Because of that she gets moved a lot more often than most. I think the longest we’ve lived in one place is about nine months.”</p><p>“And that makes it okay for you to lie and bully people for no reason?” Bully? She hadn’t considered that before. From Marinette’s perspective she understood why she said it though. Especially after the bathroom incident. Lila winced.</p><p>“I didn’t mean to… The lying has a purpose but I’ve never had to escalate things before. It’s not an excuse, I should have considered things better. I just…” She just what? She’d just been so focused on her goal that she hadn’t bothered to look at the collateral damage. Hadn’t even considered that there would be. “Look just let me explain, then you can yell at me.” If she didn’t get this out now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to.</p><p>“Fine.” Lila shifted nervously as Marinette’s full attention was focused on listening to her. Having that much animosity directed at her was extremely uncomfortable.</p><p>“So when I was little the moves were more frequent. Because of that my mother hired tutors and enrolled me in online classes rather than try to attend school. There didn’t seem to be any point in having me adapt to a new place and teachers every couple of months. About three years ago things slowed down a little and she decided it would be good for me to socialize with other kids. Despite my best efforts, I was enrolled in school. I hated it.” That was a vast understatement. The curriculum wasn’t advanced enough and the kids were all immature and annoying. The teachers were boring too. Not to mention that she was used to learning at her own pace and having the ability to choose subjects that actually interested her. School was basically torture.</p><p>“I wasn’t happy and told my mother so but she thought I just needed time to adjust so she basically told me to suck it up and deal with it.” She’d had a perfectly researched and reasoned argument but her mother wouldn’t even listen to her. “A couple days later a boy was annoying me. He refused to leave me alone after I’d told him many times to stop and eventually I snapped and punched him in the nose.” It had felt really good at the time.</p><p>“Really?” Marinette sounded somewhere between horrified and amused and was obviously trying to keep a straight face.</p><p>“Really. I was sent to the principal and he called my mother. I was expelled because they had a zero tolerance policy for violence. My mother was not happy with me and lectured me about solving my problems in a different way, but she let me homeschool again because she wasn’t certain how long we’d be there and didn’t want to go through the effort of finding another school. I thought I’d won, until the next time we moved and she put me in school again.” Once again she’d argued to be allowed to stay with homeschooling. Once again her mother had ignored her.</p><p>“Let me guess, you just walked up and punched someone the first day?” Lila let out a snort of amusement and shook her head.</p><p>“No. Mother made it very clear that physical violence had far too many repercussions, so I had to get creative. I read the school rules trying to find the easiest way to get thrown out. I tried disrupting class constantly, but that just landed me in detention. So then I tried stealing. That got me thrown out quickly enough, but it also could have had legal ramifications that I didn’t understand at the time. My mother made it very clear to me after though.” Yet another fun conversation where her mother talked at her and wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise. Lila couldn’t understand how she could be such a good diplomat and still have no idea how to listen to her own daughter.</p><p>“So you got to homeschool again?” She blinked at Marinette for a moment before nodding. She’d gotten lost in her own thoughts. “But I’m going to assume it didn’t last.”</p><p>“No. Every time we move she tries again. I don’t understand why she bothers. The next few schools I refined my technique. I found out that lying was the easiest and least complicated way to get thrown out quickly. They just don’t want to deal with it. Each school has slightly different thresholds but I found that obvious misinformation coupled with lying about medical conditions usually got me back home within a week. I thought I had it down to a science, until we moved here.”</p><p>“So wait… you’ve just been trying to get expelled this entire time?” Marinette was looking at her like she’d grown another head. Lila wasn’t surprised. To anyone else what she did sounded insane and maybe it was a little. But it worked and she was a very results driven person. “What about the Akumatizations?”</p><p>“What about them?” Lila couldn’t figure out what that had to do with anything.</p><p>“If you wanted to be found out, why were you so upset you became Volpina and Chameleon?” Lila winced. She’d watched the limited footage and remembered how she’d reacted after. She’d been disoriented and confused and had just lashed out.</p><p>“I was expecting Adrien to call me out. The necklace I showed him came from his father’s line after all. I misjudged how involved he was in the industry apparently. I wasn’t expecting or prepared for an actual Superhero to call me out. I’ll admit I reacted badly, but in my defense I didn’t know then how little it took for Hawkmoth to Akumatize someone.” That had been a less than pleasant realization. Maybe she should try and apologize to Ladybug after this as well. It wasn’t the hero’s fault that Lila couldn’t deal with normal social interaction and lashed out when she felt threatened.</p><p>“And Chameleon?” Lila winced at the soft question. She still didn’t know what she’d been thinking when she’d threatened Marinette. Well that wasn’t completely true but she didn’t realize how far she’d gone until she saw the Akuma.</p><p>“You were the only person who seemed to have a spine and didn’t believe the bullshit I came up with. I was trying to push you into reporting me to the teacher or convincing everyone else that I was lying. I’ve never been in a situation where people actually thought that my lies were real before. Looking back it was a stupid thing to do.” And wasn’t that an understatement. “After I left I realized how harsh I’d been and was coming back to make sure you were okay when the Akuma phased through the wall and straight into me. Apparently my being mad at myself for overreacting was enough to let him in, again.”</p><p>“Why keep lying though? You had to have realized it wasn’t working at some point so why keep doing it?” That was a really good question and she didn’t have a good answer. Lila ran a hand through her hair in frustration.</p><p>“At first I thought that I just needed bigger lies. I also expected the teacher or principal to call my mother and verify the ‘disabilities’ I said I had. Other than that I guess it was just habit. It’s what I’ve always done in that situation and I didn’t know what else to do if I’m being honest. Everyday I’d tell myself that today was when everyone would see through the bullshit. That’s also why I started lying about you.” Once again, in hindsight it was an extremely stupid move. Marinette looked confused.</p><p>“You’ve been lying to the class about me thinking it would make them realize what you were doing?” Yeah, it was a really stupid plan.</p><p>“Yes. I did my research. Everyone loved you. You were the class rep for crying out loud! I thought that lying about you would get them to at least think things through. I mean they’re supposed to be your friends. They’re supposed to know your character well enough to question it when someone says you’re doing something so completely off track from your normal. I didn’t expect them to believe me without question and I absolutely didn’t expect them to retaliate and hide it from me.”</p><p>Marinette’s head snapped up in shock. She was looking for something in Lila’s eyes but Lila wasn’t sure what it was. The girl’s expression softened suddenly and before she knew it, Lila was on the receiving end of a crushing hug. What the hell?</p><p>“If you’re trying to suffocate me there are easier ways to do it.” The words just popped out and Lila winced again. So maybe her mom had a point about her needing more social interaction. It still didn’t mean she should be forced to endure school. She felt Marinette let out an amused huff and pulled back.</p><p>“So what brought on this need to come clean?” Lila’s eyes automatically went to Marinette’s injuries before snapping away to the wall.</p><p>“Alya slipped and told me what they did last night. I went to Adrien first since he knew Ladybug called me out to try and get him to make the others see sense, or at least help you protect yourself. That’s when he told me what he said to you.” She felt her anger resurfacing just thinking about that conversation.</p><p>“That’s what you meant.” Lila just blinked at Marinette in confusion. “When you first got here you yelled at me about taking a moron’s advice.” Lila winced at the reminder but nodded. “Apparently you’re not the only one prone to making mistakes and snap judgments.” Her tone was dry but still held a trace of amusement. Lila wasn’t certain what to make of it.</p><p>“I’ll text my mother and have her come here after work so I can explain what’s going on to her and your parents.” It was the least she could do. There was no way to fix this, but at least she could come clean.</p><p>“You can’t do that! What if one of them gets Akumatized over it?” Lila just frowned at Marinette. She couldn’t be serious. Her worried expression said otherwise.</p><p>“You can’t keep letting people hurt you because you’re scared how they’ll react. Hawkmoth is going to keep using people and that’s not your fault. It’s not your job to make everyone happy, especially not at the expense of your physical and mental well being. They need to know what’s going on so you can get out of that toxic school environment.” Marinette actually rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Just because you don’t like school doesn’t mean it’s a toxic environment.” Lila stared at her in shock. Marinette was serious. The phrase ‘what the hell’ was quickly becoming her new mantra.</p><p>“You’re kidding right? Your teacher avoids her job at all costs by making the class police itself. She blames the victims for things they have no control over because it’s easier than actually confronting someone. The principal hasn’t once tried to call my mother to verify absences or illness. That’s not even including your classmates who have gone full Lord of the Flies over a bunch of lies.” How could she possibly think any of this was okay? Marinette seemed confused as she mulled over Lila’s words. How long had this shit been going on?</p><p>“I suppose it may seem that way to someone walking into it, but I think your prejudice against school in general is part of your viewpoint. Things have always worked themselves out before and I’m sure everyone will come around eventually.” She was going to have an aneurysm. Apparently Marinette was just as bad as Adrien at holding on to things despite the evidence. She reached out and gently touched the gauze on Marinette’s forehead.</p><p>“They could have killed you. Alya especially is prone to acting without thinking things through or caring about the consequences. It’s why she posted all those ridiculous interviews. Honestly I’m surprised she hasn’t been sued yet. I took care of the site though.” She wasn’t even paying attention to the words coming out of her mouth, too focused on where Marinette’s blood was seeping through. This was all her fault.</p><p>“What do you mean you took care of the site?” Marinette’s tone was off but she couldn’t place the tone.</p><p>“Hacking is one of the things that I actually like doing. I took down everything with me and purged it from her harddrive. I also took down that stupid picture of Ladybug and Chat kissing after Oblivio. It’s not much but it’s as much of an apology I could manage to Ladybug even if she never knows who did it.” Alya had ranted for days about the Heroine’s denial. It was beyond annoying at the time.</p><p>“Why do you want to apologize to Ladybug?” Lila blinked at her before letting out a sigh.</p><p>“After my Akumatizations I said some things… let’s just say I wasn’t in a great headspace. I tend to go feral when I feel threatened. Add that to the whole lying and keeping in character to get expelled… She has enough to deal with without hormonal teenagers mouthing off at her.” Marinette was studying her again and Lila couldn’t read her expression at all. It made her more nervous than she would have thought.</p><p>“I still don’t think we should tell our parents. Maybe we can turn things around ourselves.” Damn it. The girl was out of her mind.</p><p>“That school is a breeding ground for bullies and narcissists. The administration needs to be held accountable for their neglect or who knows how many others could get hurt. There needs to be consequences or things will never change.” There was no way they could fix this themselves. She wasn’t even sure teams of lawyers and therapists could fix this at this point. Marinette was frowning again. Lila wanted to convince her this was the right thing, but if push came to shove she would tell the Dupain-Chengs the truth so they could do something about this. Her mother would just want to bury it to keep Lila out of trouble. Marinette’s parents would do what they had to to protect their daughter, at least she hoped they would.</p><p>“I don’t want anyone else getting hurt… Maybe we can talk to the principal. If we say we’re going to look into a lawsuit or call the police, maybe he’ll change.” Lila rolled her eyes.</p><p>“He won’t take anything seriously coming from two teenagers. Look, I realize your self preservation instincts aren’t very strong but you need to tell your parents what’s going on. If nothing else you can transfer schools. Honestly, you probably should.” She looked devastated at the thought and Lila’s guilt came back full force. She knew that she couldn’t control the actions of others, but if she hadn’t worked them up they never would have gone after Marinette of all people. They say ignorance is bliss for a reason. Marinette probably would have been perfectly happy not knowing what her classmates were capable of.</p><p>“I can’t just leave my friends.”</p><p>“What friends? The only person who has bothered to tell me to back off is Chloe. Something about you being more fun to square off with when you actually have a spine.” That girl was at least what she seemed. Lila could respect that far more than Adrien’s fake personality. In his defense she didn’t think he was doing it out of spite, he’d just been playing a part most of his life and probably had no idea who he was, let alone how to be himself.</p><p>“They didn’t mean it. I’m sure once they understand the situation they’ll calm down.” There had to be a way to get through to her, but Lila was getting far too frustrated to think things through properly. As usual, her mouth went into gear before her brain.</p><p>“If we tell them what’s going on now they’ll just transfer all that anger to me, assuming they don’t think you threatened me into backing up your story that is. Sadly, I have a feeling that it’ll be the second.” She would be fine with the first honestly. It would give her a reason to have her mother pull her out of school. Unfortunately given the class’s track record she couldn’t chance it. Alya could easily whip everyone else into a frenzy if she decided Marinette was forcing Lila to back her version of events. The girl hadn’t been able to find the truth yet so there was no reason to think she would come to her senses now.</p><p>“I suppose you’re right. I wouldn’t want them going after you.” She couldn’t have heard that right.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“What you did was wrong but you don’t deserve to be bullied for it. I don’t want to be part of the reason that would happen.” Her supposed friends attacking her didn’t phase her at all, but the thought of those same friends bullying the person who’d set them on her in the first place caused her to pause. Lila would never understand that mindset.</p><p>“So can we at least talk to your parents about what’s happening? This has gone way past too far and I really don’t think we’ll be able to stop it by ourselves. Please.” Marinette finally nodded and Lila felt a tightness in her chest loosen. It wasn’t enough, but it was a start.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>So yeah, one shots are apparently not possible for me. Here we go again, no idea where this is headed so your guess is as good as mine.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This had to be the most uncomfortable thing Lila had ever experienced. And that included all the times creeps had yelled at or propositioned her at the events her mother insisted on taking her to. Sitting next to Marinette while she explained everything to her parents was torture. Lila did her best to stay silent, but she couldn’t help but break in when Marinette went too easy on people. She absolutely refused to make eye contact though.</p><p>“So you managed to turn the entire class on my daughter in an attempt to get expelled?”</p><p>“Yes Ma’am.” She was pretty sure the woman wouldn’t want her calling her by her name anymore. Honestly she was surprised she hadn’t been thrown out yet. Marinette was currently in her father’s arms, trying to keep him calm so she was feeling the full brunt of Madam Cheng’s attention. It honestly felt worse than her mother’s constant disappointment but that was probably because she wasn’t used to it from anyone else.</p><p>“And at what point did you decide that you needed to target my daughter specifically?” Well that sounded like a trap but it wouldn’t do any good to lie at this point.</p><p>“After the napkin incident.” Her tone was dry and Marinette actually giggled. Lila could only shoot her a confused look. Nothing about this was funny.</p><p>“Napkin incident?” Madam Cheng just looked confused and Lila sighed. There had been so many lies and issues that Marinette had left a few out. This was going to be interesting.</p><p>“I said I sprained my wrist in another attempt to get the teacher to ask for a doctor’s note. She didn’t. Marinette threw a balled up napkin at me and I caught it as a reflex. I made sure there was a large gap between me actually using my wrist and pretending to be in pain. Knowing that wouldn’t be enough I made up some ridiculous garbage about seeing someone lose an eye to a napkin. The class ate it up. I still can’t process that kind of stupidity.” The boy was wearing glasses for fuck’s sake! What kind of moron wouldn’t question that?</p><p>“You’re kidding.” The woman’s tone was flat and Lila could only shake her head. She wished she were making this stuff up. She wished she’d never set foot in that school. She wished for a lot of things that were completely beyond her reach unfortunately. “You were out of school for a period of time weren’t you?”</p><p>“Umm… yes.” What did that have to do with anything? She shifted uncomfortably and waited for whatever was next. She hoped there wouldn’t be follow up questions but she knew she wasn’t that lucky.</p><p>“Obviously you weren’t traveling, so why were you out of school and why did you go back?” Lila hunched in on herself and tried to keep her emotions in check. When Marinette hadn’t asked about it she’d hoped that meant she wouldn’t have to deal with it. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her and just kept staring at the table. She counted the lines in the wood to try and keep calm for a moment before answering.</p><p>“After I was Akumatized my mother pulled me out of school to send me to a therapist so I wouldn’t embarrass her again.” Yet another lecture that had repeated over and over for months. “The first one told her that school was a major problem for me and that it would be beneficial for me to go back to homeschooling and use extracurricular activities to interact with other kids to ease me into it. She didn’t like that, so she fired them and hired another.” Her mother really hated being told she was wrong. “Once that happened is when I started video calling into the class and pretending to be traveling. I put minimal effort into making it look like I was in different locations and thought someone would pick up on it. I didn’t know they hadn’t until I got back.”</p><p>“So the second therapist said it was okay for you to go to school?” LIla shook her head. Madam Cheng’s voice was oddly devoid of emotion and that worried her.</p><p>“No they said the same as the first. So did the third one. She finally found one to agree with her without actually seeing me.” She still hadn’t seen him actually. There were days she wondered if her mother had made him up, but she was getting prescriptions from somewhere so there had to be someone.</p><p>“I’m sorry what?” Lila cringed at the disbelief in her voice. She’d just admitted to lying about pretty much everything, so it only made sense they would question her about something like this.</p><p>“It was on Heroes day. She sat me down and said she found a doctor that said my problems had nothing to do with school and with the proper medication I would be fine. I tried to argue with her but it did just as much good as every other time I’ve tried. I was so mad and worried and… I remember locking myself in my room and then the next thing I knew I was in an alley near the Eiffel Tower watching an Akuma fly away from me.” She’d seen the footage later and had actually thrown up. When her mother yelled at her for sneaking out she didn’t correct her. It would have just led to another rant about how she should be able to control herself better. She didn’t need another reason for the woman to be disappointed in her.</p><p>“Are you telling me that some random doctor is prescribing you medication solely because your mother told him to?” The repressed fury in those words was enough to make Lila start counting again.</p><p>“Yes. I don’t even know who it is.” The words were mumbled but they did actually make it out so she was happy about that. Madam Cheng reached forward and forced her chin up so Lila had to look her in the eyes. She expected anger but what she saw seemed more like pity, or maybe concern. That didn’t seem right.</p><p>“I think I need to have a chat with your mother.” Lila just blinked at her in confusion for a moment.</p><p>“I don’t think that’s a good idea, at least not until you decide what you want to do about the school. She’s not going to care about the effects of what I’ve done, she’ll just try to make it go away.” She’d seen it enough times to know exactly how things would go. Normally it didn’t worry her but given the principal’s current track record, her mother could probably get him to agree to anything. Madam Cheng’s expression softened further. That really didn’t seem right.</p><p>“Why don’t you call your mother and ask if it’s alright for you to spend the night here?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?” If the change of topic wasn’t enough to throw her having Marinette’s mother, who should hate her, suggest she stay under their roof would have done the trick. “She doesn’t like it when I disturb her at work.”</p><p>“Won’t she want to know where you are?” She hadn’t even agreed to stay. She was so confused.</p><p>“I can text her, but she is too busy to actually talk to me.” Wait, did she just agree to stay? The feeling of being in an alternate reality came up suddenly again. Nothing about this place made sense. Maybe Hawkmoth had something to do with it.</p><p>“I’d still like you to try.” Why was she pushing this? Lila looked down at her hands trying to figure out what was happening. Was the woman trying to catch her in a lie? That seemed the most likely. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and fiddled with it for a moment before pulling up the contact for her mother’s office. She definitely wouldn’t answer her personal phone while working. Probably didn’t even have it turned on. She set the phone on the table as she hit call and put it on speaker. It would just make things go faster.</p><p>“Ambassador Rossi’s office.” A professional voice answered and Sabine raised an eyebrow at her.</p><p>“Hello David, it’s Lila.” Silence. She sighed. “Ambassador Rossi’s daughter.”</p><p>“Your mother is very busy young lady. Unless this is an emergency you’ll need to wait.” Yep this was going to go exactly as she thought it would.</p><p>“I just have a quick question for her. If she can’t come to the phone perhaps you could relay it to her?” Silence, followed by an annoyed breath.</p><p>“One moment.” He put her on hold and she just waited. She knew the others were all looking at her but she kept her head lowered. She didn’t know why but seeing people’s reactions just made everything worse.</p><p>“This had better be important.” Her mother’s stern, annoyed voice broke into her thoughts and she had to swallow before she could talk.</p><p>“I’m sorry to disturb you but a classmate’s parents invited me to stay over and they want to make sure I have your permission. So can I?” She could practically feel her mother’s annoyance through the phone.</p><p>“Lila, I’ve been in back to back meetings all day and you just interrupted a call with a very important government official for something you could have handled yourself. You need to grow up and start taking responsibility for your life. I won’t always be here to hold your hand.” The click as she hung up seemed to echo in the complete silence that followed.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The silence stretched on and Lila could only sit there. She knew the others were likely staring at her. Wondering what she’d done to make her mother react like that. She just wished she had an answer for them. Even before everything with the schools they’d never been close. Her mother pretty much only talked to her to tell her what she needed to improve. As the atmosphere became more and more uncomfortable Lila finally broke the silence.</p><p>“So… would you consider that a yes or a no?” More silence before M. Dupain cleared his throat.</p><p>“Marinette why don’t you go with Lila to pack an overnight bag? We’ll get dinner and some treats started. Is there anything you can’t eat or something you’d like to have?” It took her a moment to realize that last part was aimed at her. When she managed to look up his expression matched the gentle tone of his voice and she just got even more confused.</p><p>“No sir. I’m not picky.” Her mother rarely made it home to eat with her and even then it was always take out. She’d gotten used to left overs or eating whatever random things were in the house.</p><p>“Make sure to pack all your medications as well.” Madam Cheng’s voice sounded a little strange but when Lila managed to look up at her she wasn’t glaring and she didn’t look annoyed. She was definitely more stiff than she’d been before though.</p><p>“It’s okay if you don’t want me here anymore. I get it. Even offering is more than most people would have done in your situation.” She still had no idea why they did either. After everything that had happened to their daughter because of her they should be throwing her out, at the very least. The woman’s expression turned to one of motherly concern and it honestly made her more nervous. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had aimed that kind of look at her.</p><p>“You’re welcome here, anytime you need somewhere to go, as long as you stop all this lying. There are better ways to deal with your problems.” Lila could only hang her head and mumble another apology. While she agreed that the lying in this situation wasn’t a good idea, it normally didn’t backfire like this and she had tried other things first. Maybe it was different for other people. She heard the woman let out a frustrated sigh. “You two go on, we’ve got to finish closing up the bakery before we start on dinner.” She let Marinette pull her out of her seat and down the stairs. She was still too busy trying to understand what was happening to even consider arguing.</p><p>“Did your mom really put you on medication just to keep you in school?” She glanced at Marinette. There was no accusation in the question. More like she just couldn’t understand how someone could do something like that.</p><p>“Yes but I don’t take it. Well, except one of the anxiety meds every once in a while when I can’t sleep. As she said on the phone, she thinks I should be responsible for myself so she just assumes I’m actually taking them.” She hadn’t understood at first why her mother would work so hard to get the meds and then not bother to monitor their use. She’d come to the conclusion it was so that when the school finally called about her ‘behavioral’ issues she would have a paper trail to be able to sell them on the fact that Lila was just sick and needed special accommodations. That or she really didn’t think Lila would disobey her on this.</p><p>When they got to the apartment building Lila wasn’t really paying attention. She heard something that sounded like a cough but kept walking towards the elevator until Marinette tugged on her sleeve. When she looked over at the other girl Marinette motioned to the side and Lila saw three rather annoyed looking staff members.</p><p>“Guests have to be signed in.” She blinked at the woman who spoke, not really processing the words.</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?” The woman just rolled her eyes.</p><p>“This is a high security building Mlle. Rossi. All guests have to be signed in.” Oh, right. She vaguely remembered something about that from when they’d first moved in. She just had never actually brought someone home before.</p><p>“Sorry, I forgot. Umm… how exactly do I do that?” The woman just looked exasperated now, but the man behind the desk offered a smile and motioned them over. There was a clipboard on the desk and he handed her a pen.</p><p>“You just need to put your name, apartment number, and your guests name.” He pointed to each column in turn . She filled them out as he asked and handed the pen back. “Thank you Mlle. Rossi, have a nice day.”</p><p>“Thank you, you as well.” She could still see the disapproving look on the woman’s face as they continued to the elevator and couldn’t help but wonder how she still had a job if this was how she normally treated tennants. Personally she couldn’t remember any of the staff and didn’t really interact with them. Generally once she was in the building it was a habit to keep her head down and get to her room as quickly as possible. She’d found that the less interaction she had with people the fewer things her mother had to lecture her about. Her social interactions were always lacking in some way and she could never be certain what her mother would latch onto.</p><p>When they entered the apartment Lila noticed Marinette frowning as she looked around. She couldn’t really blame her after seeing her house. The apartment was clean bordering on sterile due to the service her mother had come in daily. There weren’t any personal touches either. No pictures, no nicknacks, nothing that said people actually lived here. She didn’t really think about it. It had been this way as long as she could remember.</p><p>“Your place is nice…” Lila actually grinned as she watched Marinette try to come up with something good to say about it. “Lot’s of natural light.” Lila let out a snort of amusement. The girl was the essence of cheerful and that was all she could come up with. It was a bit sad really.</p><p>“My room’s this way.” When they entered Marinette perked up immediately. Lila could only assume it was due to all the pictures on the walls since it was the only real difference between here and the rest of the house.</p><p>“Wow, these are amazing! Do you collect them?”</p><p>“They’re not that good. Just pictures I’ve taken to remember where I’ve been.” She liked taking pictures, especially of nature. She found it soothing and having something to look back on made her feel a little less disconnected. Marinette was staring at her in what looked like awe.</p><p>“You took all these?” Lila just nodded. “These are amazing! I’ve seen professional photographers whose work doesn’t look this good.” Even knowing Marinette was just being nice, Lila couldn’t help but bask in the complement for a moment. But only for a moment.</p><p>“So what exactly should I be packing? I’ve never done the whole sleepover thing before.” Suddenly Marinette was looking at her like she’d kicked a puppy and she couldn’t figure out why.</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve never had a sleepover? Ever?” Lila just shook her head. Wasn’t that what she’d just said? “Oh my gosh! We have so much to make up for. Obscene amounts of junk food and games and movies and makeovers and ghost stories and-” She just kept going. Lila had no idea what she was rambling about and it didn’t answer her question at all. Marinette finally paused to take a breath and she was able to break in.</p><p>“Okay, but what should I actually pack?” Marinette paused to think it over. The expression on her face seemed far too serious for such a common question.</p><p>“Your most comfy pajamas, whatever you want to wear tomorrow, and a toothbrush. I’ll take care of everything else.” Well that sounded slightly ominous. Regardless, she packed what she was told along with all her medications. Dumping those in the bag got a strange look from Marinette, but she wasn’t certain why. Maybe it was just how many there were. In less than ten minutes they were back out on the street, headed towards the bakery.</p><p>“Lila!”</p><p>“Shit.” She said the word under her breath as she looked behind her. Of course it would be Alya. They’d been on the street less than five minutes, only her luck could be that bad. She tried to use her body to block Marinette but she wasn’t quick enough. Alya’s expresion turned sour as she tried to reach around Lila.</p><p>“I thought we made it clear that we wouldn’t tolerate you bullying Lila anymore!” Lila grabbed the girls wrist before she could grab or slap Marinette. That stunned her enough to let Marinette get some space.</p><p>“You touch her again I’ll break the offending appendage.” Lila didn’t recognize her own voice in that deep threatening tone, but Alya just rolled her eyes.</p><p>“This is why we didn’t tell you what we were doing. You’re too nice and let people like her get away with anything.” She wanted so badly to just slap some sense into the girl but honestly she didn’t think it would work.</p><p>“I’m not nice, and you’ll find out exactly how not nice if you don’t stop harassing Marinette.”</p><p>“But if we don’t do something she’ll just keep bullying you!” Lila could only sigh. How many times was she going to have to have this conversation.</p><p>“Marinette is not now, nor has she ever bullied me. Which I already told you.” Alya let out a patient sigh, like she was explaining something simple to a small child. Yeah, someone was going to get hit before this conversation was over.</p><p>“She’s constantly calling you a liar and trying to turn everyone against you. Why would she do that?” Yep, the kindergarten teacher tone was definitely a good way to piss her off. Lila, of course, defaulted to sarcasm.</p><p>“Oh gee, I don’t know maybe because I was lying?” Alya looked like she was about to argue but Lila just kept going. “If you had bothered to look up literally anything I said you would know that.”</p><p>“An absence of proof is not proof of absence.” It took a minute for the words to penetrate as Lila was just getting even more annoyed by Alya’s self righteous tone but when they did she had to stop herself from lunging at her.</p><p>“Are you saying that you looked up my claims, found absolutely no proof and still took my word over Marinette’s?” Her voice was soft, more because her throat felt like it was closed in rage than anything else.</p><p>“There wasn’t any proof that you were lying either.” Alya’s smug tone finally snapped something inside her.</p><p>“Have you lost your damn mind?! Jagged stone has said in multiple interviews that he doesn’t even like cats. And in what universe would my mother’s PR team not have it in the news that I do charity work? She’s a public figure Alya, anything that can make her look good would have press releases for days. That in and of itself proves that I was lying.” The girl seemed to ponder this for a moment before she sent a glare to Marinette.</p><p>“What did you threaten her with to make her agree with you?”  Knowing that she’d been right about who Alya would blame for this was a small consolation.</p><p>“Lila you need to calm down.” Marinette’s voice was soft, soothing even but she was in no mood to pay attention.</p><p>“I will not calm down! This wanna be reporter couldn’t find the truth if she fell into a river of it. You should consider a career in fiction by the way since anyone with journalistic integrity will simply laugh you out the door.” Alya was still glaring at Marinette, like all this was her fault. What was wrong with people? Marinette actually grabbed her arms and forced Lila to face her.</p><p>“Please. You really need to calm down. Just breathe with me okay? You don’t want to get Akumatized again.” Those words acted like ice water. Yes, this was beyond stupid, but it wasn’t worth that. She calmed her breathing as Marinette asked but made sure to keep a line of sight on Alya as well. There was no telling what someone like her would do at this point.</p><p>“We should head back to your house, your parents will start to worry.” She had no idea if that was true or not but she hoped it would get Alya to back off. Pretty much everyone agreed that Marinette’s parents were great people, but they were also scared shitless at the thought of pissing them off. After their talk earlier she understood why. It did the trick too. Alya mumbled something about finding out what kind of dirt Marinette had on her so Lila could stop pretending she’d been lying as she left at a brisk walk. She’d read about willful ignorance but she’d never expected to encounter it to this degree. She was starting to hope it did have something to do with Hawkmoth, but considering some of the things people were willing to believe she wasn’t very optimistic.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What’s wrong?” Lila jumped a little at Marinette’s question. She didn’t realize how close they’d gotten to the bakery.</p><p>“I just… I don’t understand why they’re all so invested in the crap I made up. You and Chloe both know celebrities. Adrien is a celebrity. Why would one more person knowing people of influence cause such a rabid response? None of it makes sense.” She’d been trying to understand that since she came back. It made no sense to her.</p><p>“I think it’s because you were the most accessible.” Marinette’s voice was soft, almost like she didn’t mean to say it out loud. She flushed when she saw Lila’s confused look. “I just mean, Chloe is, well Chloe, and Adrien’s life is completely dictated by his father.”</p><p>“And you?” Lila saw what looked like shame before Marinette looked away.</p><p>“Most of them have known me a long time, they don’t really consider the fact that I know some of those people. Plus I’ve been busy lately. You always made time for them, even if it was just to try and make them see through you.” That sort of made sense. No, no it really didn’t. There had to be something else going on that she wasn’t seeing.</p><p>“Either way, they’re idiots for thinking you would bully someone. I haven’t even known you that long but I can tell that’s not something you’d do. I… I really am sorry I lied about you specifically. If I’d had any idea of how things would go…” Nothing she said would fix what happened. She knew that. But she needed Marinette to believe that she wasn’t trying to ruin her life.</p><p>“It’s okay. Things rarely turn out the way we expect.” She sounded so tired, and not physically. Before she could come up with something to say they were back at the bakery.</p><p>“Marinette, why don’t you help your father with dinner while I talk to Lila.” Lila froze at Madam Cheng’s words before slumping in resignation. She deserved whatever was coming. Marinette gave her arm a comforting squeeze before heading into the kitchen. “I want to see what medications you’re taking.” Lila shot a hesitant look at the woman.</p><p>“Well, I’m not actually taking them. I didn’t think it was a good idea given I’ve never even met the doctor. My mother just gives me the bottles when she gets the scripts filled but doesn’t check that I’m using them. I’m not entirely sure why.” She wasn’t certain what the look on the woman’s face was. It was oddly blank but still looked like she was fighting to remain calm.</p><p>“Then I’d like to see everything that was prescribed.” Lila put her bag on the table and took a deep breath before fishing for the bottles. Seeing those would make anyone think she was insane. As she kept pulling out bottles Madam Cheng seemed more and more agitated. When she was done there were eleven bottles on the table and she just fiddled with the bag strap as she waited for the woman to say something. Instead of talking, she grabbed each bottle and seemed to be looking them up in her phone, one by one. She looked more confused with every bottle.</p><p>“These were all prescribed by Dr. Bertram.” She seemed to be talking to herself but Lila nodded anyway. “A few of these counteract each other from what I can see and the doses are extremely high for someone who’s never been on medication before. You said you don’t take any of them?” Lila hesitated before reaching for one of the medications and handing it to her.</p><p>“Just this one, once every couple of weeks or so if I’m having problems sleeping.” She held off as long as possible but the constant exhaustion and nightmares always became too much. Madam Cheng took the bottle before giving her a worried frown.</p><p>“Lila this medication is highly addictive.” Her shoulders hunched on instinct.</p><p>“I know. That’s why I won’t take it more than once or twice a month. I just… sometimes it’s the only thing that helps.” She knew that using drugs as a crutch like that was dangerous and irresponsible. Especially given how she’d gotten them in the first place. She just wanted so badly to sleep. No waking up in the middle of the night, no nightmares. Just sleep. She was completely unprepared to be pulled into a hug. It took far too long for her brain to process the feeling and decide it was nice.</p><p>“Dinner’s just about ready.” M. Dupain called from the kitchen and Mme. Cheng pulled back to look at her.</p><p>“Help me set the table?” Lila nodded on instinct more than anything else. Everything about this day and these people was too bizarre for her to do anything else at this point. The dinner was just as strange as everything else. They talked and laughed and tried to engage Lila in the conversation. She tried to respond in an appropriate manner, but she wasn’t entirely certain what that was. On the rare occasions she and her mother ate at home, the woman usually took her food into her office and shut the door. If they ate out it was almost always a working dinner and Lila was expected to be silent while the adults talked. This was… unnerving if she was being honest. Once they saw how uncomfortable she was with questions about her life they seemed to try and move on to less intrusive topics. Favorite foods, books, subjects in school, etc. That was a little better, but she knew her answers sounded hesitant and stilted. She didn’t know how to react to anyone showing interest in her. Well, the real her.</p><p>“Why don’t you two head up to Marinette’s room? We’ll clean up.” There was more to Mme. Cheng’s words than the obvious but she had no idea what. Marinette just smiled brightly at them.</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Her parents both shooed them up to her room and before Lila knew what was happening she was standing in the middle of the room with Marinette taking her measurements. She was fairly certain she’d stepped into an alternate reality at this point.</p><p>“I really don’t see the point of this. I wouldn’t feel right accepting a gift from you after everything.” Marinette just ignored her and kept taking measurements, occasionally muttering to herself. She didn’t want to upset the girl so Lila just stood there, trying and failing to understand how any of this happened.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lila woke in a cold sweat and panicked when she didn’t recognize the room she was in. Her thoughts were still jumbled from the nightmare and she could feel herself slipping further into an anxiety attack. A soft snore from above shocked her system enough to let her memory of the previous day surface. She was in Marinette’s room. She was safe.</p><p>She quietly got up and padded to the trapdoor. This had happened enough for her to know that sleep wasn’t coming back tonight. Normally she would either watch educational videos or, if she couldn’t concentrate, animal videos but she didn’t want to risk waking Marinette. Once she made it downstairs though, she was at a loss of what to do. Without knowing the house rules she didn’t want to risk upsetting anyone. She was just starting to worry that she shouldn’t even have left the room when a voice sounded behind her.</p><p>“Lila, is everything alright?” She jumped and turned to find M. Dupain looking at her.</p><p>“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to wake anyone.” This was bad. She had no frame of reference for how bad either. There had to be a reason everyone was scared of Marinette’s parents and she really didn’t want to find out the hard way.</p><p>“It’s okay you didn’t wake me. I always get up this early to start the bread. Would you like a glass of water?” She just nodded, still wary of doing anything to make him mad. He went to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses, filling both before handing one to her. “So what has you up this early?”</p><p>“I…” Lila hesitated not sure what to say. Lying was obviously a bad idea but anytime she mentioned nightmares to her mother the woman mocked her and told her she needed to grow up. Anytime she’d mentioned this specific nightmare she’d gotten grounded for a week and she still had no idea why. “I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”</p><p>“Does that happen a lot?” She just shrugged. She didn’t know what someone else would consider a lot. Granted, four to five times a week for at least three years would likely fit most people’s definitions. “You know, it can help to talk about it.” When she glanced up at him all she saw was concern on his face. What was she supposed to do with that?</p><p>“It’s just a childish dream. I don’t want to bother you with it.” His huge hand covered one of hers. She was too shocked to move.</p><p>“It’s not childish. Everyone has nightmares sometimes. It doesn’t make you strange, or weird, or anything else someone may have called you. Do you want to tell me about it?” Did she? She had a lot of nightmares, but this one was her most persistent. After the way her mother reacted to it she’d just assumed she shouldn’t talk about it. But did she want to?</p><p>“I’m little. We’re in a bedroom.” She paused to try and keep her breathing even. Just thinking about this made her feel like she was about to hyperventilate.</p><p>“We?”</p><p>“There’s another girl. Older than me and she’s telling me everything’s going to be okay. She speaks in English though, with an American accent.” Nothing about the dream made sense, but that always felt like it mattered the most even though she didn’t know why. “The room is filled with smoke and there’s bars on the window. It seems like we’re stuck there forever and I’m just getting more scared. Eventually there’s a man’s voice yelling and a pounding on the door. I always wake up just as the door is busted open.”</p><p>“That’s a very vivid nightmare. How long have you been having it?” She blinked up at him. There was no ridicule, nothing in his expression to make this seem like a trap. Was this how fathers acted?</p><p>“As long as I can remember.” Waking up from that dream was her first solid memory. Her mother yelling at her for waking her up with her screaming was the second.</p><p>“I don’t think it’s just a nightmare. Have you ever considered that it’s something that actually happened to you?” She could only frown at the thought. She had no idea who the other girl was and while the man’s voice sounded familiar but she’d always assumed it was just because she’d had the dream for so long. “Did you ever ask your mother about it?” She couldn’t help the full body flinch.</p><p>“She doesn’t like me bringing up things like this.” It was a massive understatement and she could hear how weak her voice sounded. If it was something that actually happened maybe that could explain why her mother reacted so strongly to it. It didn’t help her though.</p><p>“If you ever need or want to talk, about anything, you can come here. We’ll be happy to listen.” His tone was soft and gentle and Lila felt herself start to tear up. She didn’t know how to respond. “If you’re not going to go back to sleep, how would you like to help me get the bakery ready to open?”</p><p>“What?” It took her a second to follow the change of topic. “I’d just be in the way. I’m sure you don’t need me messing things up.” It was kind of him to offer but she knew better than to accept. She had a terrible track record trying to learn anything to do with manual labor. Programming and scientific theory she got with no problem, but anything to do with actually making things with her hands ended in disaster.</p><p>“You won’t be in the way. Even if you don’t want to help, I’d love to have your company while I work.” He was giving her a gentle smile and she tried to return it, but she had a bad feeling about this.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I am so sorry!” She’d been doing so well staying out of the way but when M. Dupain went to grab another bag of flour from the storeroom she’d thought it would be safe to stand and stretch. Now she, M. Dupain, and the kitchen were covered in flour because she’d bent over at the exact wrong time to tie her shoe and he’d tripped over her. M. Dupain was laughing. She didn’t understand why or how she was supposed to react. Then she turned and saw Mme. Cheng frowning at both of them in the doorway and froze.</p><p>Should she apologize again? Or would that just be annoying? Maybe she should offer to clean it up, but she had no idea how to do that. Her mother’s staff had always dealt with messes and anytime she’d tried to help or do something like that on her own, no one would let her. She wasn’t certain if it was because they knew she’d be bad at it or if her mother would yell at them for letting Lila do their jobs. Either way, cleaning up a mess in a place where food was prepared was something she wasn’t equipped to do properly. Maybe she could offer to pay for the wasted time and flour. Was that something people did?</p><p>“Lila, calm down. Everything’s alright.” Mme. Cheng’s voice next to her ear caused her to jump. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t even noticed the woman move. When she saw the woman frowning at her arm she realized she’d put it up defensively on instinct and immediately put it back down. She cursed herself for letting her guard down enough to flinch like that. It always made the end punishment worse. “Why don’t you head upstairs and take a shower?”</p><p>“What?” Lila could only look back and forth between the two in confusion. They both looked worried when they should be mad at her. She had no idea how far behind she just put them or how much money she’d cost them, but it couldn’t be so little that they should just be brushing it off like this. Right? “But what about…” She just gestured to white powder coating everything in the kitchen.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. You should have seen the disaster this place turned into when we were first teaching Mari. Or honestly the messes she and Tom still make when left unsupervised.” Mme. Cheng sounded amused. That didn’t make sense. Did it?</p><p>“But-”</p><p>“No buts. Now go on upstairs, take and shower, and get changed. I’ll be up to make breakfast for you and Mari in a bit.” Lila finally did as she was told, still in a bit of a daze and trying not to leave white everywhere she stepped. She spent the entire shower trying to figure out what kind of trouble she was in. Her mother always reacted immediately. It was usually bad but at least it was over with. This waiting and guessing… this was torture. If this was how her parents normally didn’t things Lila felt sorry for Marinette.</p><p>After the shower she decided to head back up to Marinette’s bedroom. Leaving was what had caused all this trouble in the first place. The other girl was still asleep and Lila just pulled out her phone and headphones to go over some materials she’d found on new developments in electronics. Other people seemed to think it was strange but going over research and facts or even statistics helped keep her calm. Right now she just didn’t want to think about whatever was coming. She knew she deserved whatever it was, but the anticipation was extremely unnerving.</p><p>“Girls! Breakfast is ready.” Mme. Cheng’s voice cut through her concentration and Lila started. Marinette was still asleep. Was she supposed to wake her? She really hated not knowing what was expected of her. “Marinette! I don’t care what day it is, you’re not sleeping through it!” The voice was louder this time and Marinette bolted upright in her bed.</p><p>“Coming Maman.” Lila watched as she stumbled down the ladder from her bed looking like she was still asleep. She didn’t even seem to realize Lila was in the room and she made her way over to the trap door and down the stairs. Lila tried not to laugh as she followed to find Mari basically faceplanted into the counter. She was pretty sure that would be considered rude. Instead she went over to sit next to the girl. Marinette’s mother set plates down in front of them filled with more food than Lila usually ate in a day. Maybe two.</p><p>“Thank you Mme. Cheng.” She hazarded a glance at the woman only to find her frowning again. Was she supposed to say something else?</p><p>“I believe I told you to call me Sabine.” Her tone was light and teasing.</p><p>“I… I didn’t think you’d still want me to given what I’ve done.” Honestly she still didn’t understand how she was still allowed in the house. Apparently Marinette’s helpful personality was come by honestly.</p><p>“We all make mistakes Lila. The fact that you owned up to yours and want to try and fix things is far more important to me than dwelling on your past.” That sounded sensible, to a point. At the same time she couldn’t help but think about the consequences of what she’d done.</p><p>“But thoughts and intentions don’t really matter do they? In the end it’s your actions, the things you actually do and say, that matter. The things I did… that makes me a pretty terrible person doesn’t it?” Lila couldn’t interpret the look she was getting. When she looked over, Marinette’s expression was oddly blank as well. She went over the words in her head again and didn’t find anything wrong with them. Maybe she needed to try and rephrase it?</p><p>“Are you going to keep doing the things you have been now that you know how much damage they’re doing?” She could only shake her head. “Then your actions from here on out are what we’ll look at. As you said, you’ve done this before without it being a problem for other people. Now that you know your actions have consequences you can reevaluate and change. If you were a terrible person, you wouldn’t even care, let alone be willing to change just because someone else is getting hurt.”</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were about halfway through breakfast and Lila had started to let her guard down. She was still on guard for any repercussions from the incident in the bakery but that left her open to interrogation on other matters.</p><p>“So Lila, I’d like you to write down the names of the three therapists you actually saw.” Mme. Cheng’s voice was friendly, cheerful even. Lila glanced at Marinette to see if she would react but there was nothing. It seemed like an innocuous enough request.</p><p>“Okay, though I don’t see the point.” The woman didn’t respond and Lila went back to her food, not really thinking about it further. As she finished a paper and pen appeared almost out of nowhere and she wrote the information almost on instinct. Mme. Cheng took the paper as soon as the third name was finished and she honestly would have thought she imagined it if the pen wasn’t still in her hand.</p><p>“Now why don’t you girls go up and finish up any homework you have. And I mean homework Mari. I want all of it done before you get distracted.”  Marinette had a sheepish look on her face but Mme. Cheng turned her attention to Lila immediately. “You do have your school things with you?”</p><p>“I don’t do homework.” The look on Mme. Cheng’s face said plainly that wasn’t the right answer. Marinette was looking at her like she’d lost her mind.</p><p>“And why is that?” The woman’s tone was strange, almost soothing. That was odd.</p><p>“It’s an inefficient learning strategy at the best of times for one. I’ve already learned the material previously for another. It also seems rather pointless given that I normally am only in a school for a few weeks at most.” They were both frowning at her now and she still didn’t know why.</p><p>“It’s a way for the teacher to measure students’ progress in the material.” Lila hadn’t considered that. Given how illogical everything at that school was it sort of made sense though.</p><p>“But it doesn’t. For the most part it just shows how well you can find answers in books or how much their friends and family know since a lot of people do homework as a group activity. If that is why they do it, it would be far more efficient and accurate to just have daily or weekly quizzes on the material. It would also be far more beneficial for students since trying to force the recall actually helps with memory far more than simply reviewing the same material over and over.” Now Mme. Cheng looked exasperated more than anything else. Marinette looked thoughtful though. Was that not common knowledge? Maybe she should show them the research she’d found on learning and memory.</p><p>“I have to go help Tom. Please just go do your homework.”</p><p>——————————————————</p><p>When Lila returned home she found a note from her mother saying she would be out of Paris for a week for work. No details, but that was normal. Under regular circumstances she would use it as an excuse to call herself off from school, but if she did that Marinette would be facing the class alone and she couldn’t allow that. Tomorrow was going to be a nightmare. Lila’s phone let out the notification for an Akuma and she pulled it from her pocket to find over three dozen messages from Alya, each one getting more hysterical. Well, shit.</p><p>“Hello Lila.” She spun around to see an Akumatized Alya at the open window. Her outfit was some weird bastardization of the way old time reporters looked in movies but the color scheme was neon green and violet. It honestly made her eyes water. “I am Journalist, and I’ll get the truth no matter the cost.” It took everything in her not to roll her eyes at both the name and what she actually said. This should be entertaining. Journalist pointed a pen at her and Lila tensed up just as the beam hit her. Well she didn’t feel any different.</p><p>“And what exactly was that supposed to do?” The least she could do was stall her to give the heroes time to get here so she didn’t go after Marinette.</p><p>“Where is your mother?” What kind of question was that?</p><p>“On a wine tour in the south of France.” Lila blinked and tried to keep her expression neutral. She had no idea where her mother was; why did she say that?</p><p>“What about your father?”</p><p>“He’s dead.” She didn’t know that either. What the hell did her powers do?</p><p>“How did he die?”</p><p>“He ran into a burning building to rescue my sister and me and ended up dying from his injuries.” Sister? Well that made the dream make a lot more sense but… oh no. If Alya’s powers did what she thought she needed to get out of here before the girl realized it.</p><p>“And what did Marinette do to you to make you say you were lying?” She felt her rage boil up at the question and completely forgot why she needed to find a way to escape.</p><p>“Marinette didn’t make me do anything! I told you I was lying because I was and the only one who made me do that was you and the rest of the morons when you decided that ‘punishing’ Marinette for things she didn’t do was a valid option.” She probably would have kept going but at the moment Ladybug appeared behind Journalist and used her Yo-Yo to heave the Akuma halfway across the city.</p><p>“Come on, let’s get you somewhere safe.” Lila didn’t even have time to respond as Ladybug grabbed her and threw her over her shoulders. The were on a rooftop somewhere Lila didn’t recognize before she recovered enough to think properly and Ladybug was about to swing back towards Journalist.</p><p>“Wait!” The heroine turned to raise an eyebrow at her and Lila suddenly felt very self conscious. Her interactions with the heroes so far had been… less than optimal, but she had to do this. “Alya’s beam makes you tell the truth.”</p><p>“Yeah, I got that.” Her tone was dry and Lila frowned at her.</p><p>“No, I really don’t think you do. Even if you don’t actually know the truth it will still come out of your mouth. I don’t think she or Hawkmoth realize that though.” Ladybug was studying her and Lila shifted uncomfortably. Getting combative was instinctive but she really needed to stop doing this.</p><p>“If you don’t know the answer then how do you know that what you say is the truth rather than just what Journalist wants to hear?” She blinked at that question. If not for the last thing she’d asked Lila wouldn’t have been certain.</p><p>“No, if that was the case I would have told her that Marinette threatened me or some other form of ridiculousness. But like I said, they don’t know that. If Hawkmoth had any idea that her powers were functioning that way he would have made her ask me for your and Chat Noir’s civilian identities. At least I would assume so. You need to be careful.” The heroine just kept staring at her for a moment before nodding and heading back to the fight. Once she was gone, Lila’s legs gave out and she sat there trying to process what had just happened.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lila had no idea how long she sat there, trying to remember anything about her father, or supposed sister, but she came up completely blank. Considering how young she had to have been in that dream it made sense, but it was still frustrating. Her mother never mentioned her father, let alone any other family. Lila remembered asking once, after she’d been put in a school for the first time because the other kids asked her about it. She’d lied to them of course, but it had made her curious. That question had gotten her grounded for a month so she never brought up the subject again.</p><p>Maybe that was why her mother disliked her. If she’d been the cause of her father’s death it would make sense. Well, assuming her mother actually loved the man. Given that there was nothing in her life to indicate he even existed except Lila herself she highly doubted it. None of this made sense. And that was before she added in the possible sister that most likely wasn’t her mother’s daughter. If her dream was at all accurate, she looked nothing like them and spoke with an American accent. So a half sister most likely. The next question was obviously what had happened to her? Lila felt fairly confident that they’d both made it out of that building, even if she didn’t know why, so the most likely scenario is that she went to live with her mother or other family. It was probably for the best. Given the way the woman treated her, Lila didn’t even want to think about how she’d be with someone else’s kid she got stuck with.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Lila started and looked up to find Ladybug’s concerned look. When had she gotten back? When did it get dark for that matter? She stood up before answering.</p><p>“Fine.” That actually wasn’t a lie. She was always fine.</p><p>“Do you want to talk about it?” Lila just shook her head. She preferred to work things out on her own for one. Even if she didn’t she wouldn’t make someone whose life she’d made more difficult listen to her issues. Ladybug sighed. “Thanks for the tip on Alya’s powers. Granted, once I told Chat the fight took five times as long because I had to keep him from purposely getting hit, but that was my error in judgement.” Lila looked over to see a grimace on the hero’s face and frowned at her.</p><p>“Why in the world would he try to get hit?” That was possibly the stupidest thing she’d heard of. Ladybug just shrugged.</p><p>“To find out my identity. He figured he could get hit and have someone ask him. Again, it’s my fault for not realizing he’d try that. He’s always been extremely unhappy that we have to keep our identities secret from each other. I think he’s just lonely to be honest.” She looked so tired and Lila felt her temper spike the way it did when she found out what the class had done to Marinette. Why did everyone seem to think this type of thing was normal or okay?</p><p>“I don’t care if he’s completely isolated from the world, there’s no reason he should be putting you and all of Paris, or worse, at risk just because he wants to infringe on your boundaries. You shouldn’t have to put up with that period, especially when it makes your job harder.” The girl just blinked at her in confusion and Lila had to wonder what the hell was going on in this city. No, she didn’t have the greatest home life or example but she read a lot. She’d been through enough psychological books and journals to know that none of this was right. Why didn’t anyone seem to see that?</p><p>“I should probably get you home.” Ladybug wouldn’t even look her in the eye. Great, she’d screwed up, again. She wanted to apologize but she didn’t know where to even start. With her track record it probably wouldn’t come off as sincere anyway.</p><p>“If you just want to get me down to the street I can walk. There’s no reason for you to waste your time on it.” She winced when she realized how harsh that sounded. She really was terrible at social interactions.</p><p>“Making sure you get home safe isn’t a waste of time, especially after dark. Your mom’s probably worried.” Lila couldn’t help the derisive snort that left her. Even if she was in the city it was doubtful she’d care unless Lila’s absence became a problem for her. “I’m sure your mother cares about you.”</p><p>“I’m sure my mother regularly wishes I’d never been born.” It was moments like these that Lila wished her mouth would consult her brain before opening, but she was certain that wouldn’t ever happen. Ladybug was looking at her with a horrified expression. “Sorry, I’m just tired.”</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t want to talk?” Lila nodded. Talking didn’t do anything so there really was no point.</p><p>“I just want to sleep.” It wouldn’t be a good sleep, but it was better than nothing. Especially since she had to go back to school tomorrow. She didn’t even want to think about that trainwreck.</p><p>————————————————————-</p><p>The next morning started off as badly as she expected it to. Over half the class cornered her in the courtyard demanding to know why she was pretending she’d been lying. By the time they’d given up she’d was hoping for an aneurysm just to be able to stop listening to this nonsense. Then Adrien had shown up to lecture her about getting Alya Akumatized. She’d honestly never wanted to hit someone so much in her life, but she did manage to refrain. She couldn’t refrain from calling him a spineless coward, but that at least got him to walk off in a huff.</p><p>“Lila!” She started cursing internally until she realized that had been Marinette’s voice. When she looked over the girl was running towards her waving some papers with a huge grin on her face. That was… weird. As she got closer Marinette tripped on a crack in the pavement and Lila had to move to catch her.</p><p>“Are you trying to kill yourself? The idiot squad is going to think you were trying to fall on me on purpose, and I really don’t want to have to deal with one more problem today.” Marinette just gave her a sheepish look. She really had no clue how bad things were.</p><p>“I found the perfect school for you!” For some reason her brain refused to understand that sentence.</p><p>“I… you… what?” Marinette shoved the papers she was holding in Lila’s face, far too close for her to be able to read anything.</p><p>“Look! The classes are by skill level not age so you won’t be bored like you are here. They do small class sizes and even have options for individual study so you can basically make your own curriculum. They’ve got one of the top computer programs in the country and they have a photography club too. Isn’t it great?” Lila finally managed to get the paper out of Marinette’s hands so she could actually read it and realized it was a brochure for a private academy.</p><p>“Even if I wanted to, my mother wouldn’t pay to send me to a place like this. Half the reason she keeps sending me to school is to not have to pay for tutors. Besides I’m not going to go off and leave you alone in this asylum. Especially given that the staff are just as bad as the inmates for the most part.” Marinette just gave her a confused frown.</p><p>“They’ll calm down in a few days, you’ll see. The school has scholarships you can apply for and look.” She pointed to a section at the bottom of the brochure. “They even have on site housing so the next time your mom has to move for her job you could stay there so your studies don’t get interrupted again.” Lila would admit it was tempting. Truthfully, her mother might pay for it if it meant she didn’t have to see her at all. She scanned the paper and an idea formed.</p><p>“I’ll go if you go.” Marinette just blinked at her so she pointed out the possible educational tracks. “There’s an art and design program that would give you a much better education for the future you want than anything you’ll get here. You need to start thinking about your future as well.”</p><p>“But I can’t just leave all my friends.” Lila wanted to slam her head into a wall. It would probably hurt less. She’d have to talk to Marinette’s parents. They at least would think about their daughter’s wellbeing and have a much better chance of getting her to do what was best for her.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey! We told you to leave Lila alone.” Lila groaned internally when she saw Kim, Alix, and Max walking towards them. This day was going to be one giant headache. She stepped between them and Marinette pinning each one with a glare.</p><p>“And none of you had any right to make that decision for me. Not to mention that if Marinette weren’t such a nice person all of you could be brought up on assault charges just for being there and watching Alya do what she did.” The boys looked worried but Alix just scoffed.</p><p>“That’s ridiculous, she can’t blame us for that. It’s not like we knew what she was going to do.” Lila could only roll her eyes. They were all idiots.</p><p>“You did know, and given that both Alya and Markov record everything, there’s evidence of you all talking about it as you were going to meet Marinette.” She’d found both videos when she’d hacked into Alya’s computer and now had copies. All three paled at that so she knew she had at least one weapon to keep them in line.</p><p>“You wanted to hurt me?” Marinette’s voice was small and the expression on her face was so shocked and hurt. The others just looked dumbfounded as if they couldn’t process the question. It’s amazing how quickly excuses die when you have to face the person.</p><p>“We just wanted you to know what it was like to be bullied so you’d stop.” Kim’s mumbled insanity actually made her eye twitch. Before she could lay into him for it, Marinette snapped.</p><p>“Are you kidding me? You stood by and watched Chloe bully me for years while you all did nothing and you think I don’t know what it’s like? You actually think I would do that to someone else? What possible reason would I have to do that?”</p><p>“We’ve all seen the crazy stuff you’ve pulled to get Adrien’s attention and it’s obvious he likes Lila more than you.” Lila could only shudder at the thought. Alix’s declaration actually caused Marinette to tear up.</p><p>“I’d never hurt someone over that. I even helped him when he wanted to go out with Kagami, but none of you seem to think about that. Just all the plans and situations you all goaded me into because you thought I needed to tell him. Maybe I did do some crazy things but you were all there cheering me on so why am I suddenly the bad person?” None of them seemed to know how to respond to that and Max actually looked like his brain had melted.</p><p>“And I’ll tell you exactly what I told Alya. Marinette has never bullied me. You all need a reality check before you do something so monumentally stupid it ruins your lives.” Kim actually puffed up at the insult.</p><p>“She’s been calling you a liar since you started here. What do you call that if not bullying?”</p><p>“She called me a liar because I was lying.” Lila said the words slowly and deliberately. She knew it wasn’t likely to make any more of an impact on them than it had on Alya, but she had to try.</p><p>“That’s ridiculous, you don’t have any reason to lie.” She blinked at Max, trying to follow his reasoning. He was supposed to be the logical one so she should have been able to.</p><p>“I’m going to regret asking this, but how exactly did you come to that conclusion?” Max looked like she’d just slapped him. The supposed smart one didn’t even bother to think this through. There was absolutely no hope for these people.</p><p>“Lying to us would be counterproductive.”</p><p>“You have no idea what my goals and motivations are. How can you possibly deem an action counterproductive when you don’t know the reasons behind them?” He frowned at her condescending tone.</p><p>“You want to fit in and make friends, just like everyone. Lying would only hamper that when the truth came out.” There it was. The underlying assumption that they all must be harboring. She supposed that people projected onto others to make them more understandable but, as this proved, it was dangerous to do so without cause.</p><p>“Wrong. I have no wish to make friends, certainly not with people who have proven they’ll turn on someone with no evidence. Fitting in was the last thing on my mind given that I was trying to be obnoxious enough to get expelled. Granted after watching Chloe, I suppose I should have upped my game a bit to stand out.” Now they were all staring at her like she was an alien species. That was more like it. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to get to class before I have to stop any more of you from teaching Marinette a lesson you should be learning yourselves.” She tugged on Marinette’s arm to get her moving because she seemed lost in her own thoughts. As they walked through the halls in silence Lila tried to calm herself.</p><p>“Maybe I should switch schools.” Marinette spoke just before they entered the classroom. The quiet, defeated tone was heartbreaking.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” Marinette just gave her a confused look. “If not for me, none of this would have happened.” She frowned in thought.</p><p>“Maybe. Or maybe it just would have happened some other time. I can’t say I’m glad that I know that the people I thought were my friends can think so badly of me, but maybe it’s for the best. Maybe there’s a reason things happened this way.” Fate was not something Lila believed in. Random chance and chaos, sure. Those could be mathematically quantified and explained to an extent. But fate? That was something people used to make themselves feel better about things they couldn’t explain. She was sensitive enough not to say that out loud as they made their way to the back to sit. Marinette gave her a surprised look when Lila slid on to the bench next to her but she ignored it. There was no reason to pretend to be friendly with anyone else anymore and she wasn’t about to risk not being close enough to intercept any problems.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Mme. Bustier, Marinette is forcing Lila to sit with her instead of in her assigned seat.” The bell hadn’t even rung yet and Lila was about two seconds from either trying to slap some sense into Alya or just grabbing Marinette and leaving. She was fairly certain Marinette’s parents wouldn’t mind if she decided they both needed a mental health day.</p><p>“Is that true Lila?” The teacher’s tone was concerned but she gave Marinette a disappointed look that made Lila even more annoyed. She’d already decided Marinette was somehow to blame for this, just like everything else.</p><p>“No.” That was it. No one seemed to be able to respond immediately. Alya just glared at them. Finally the teacher cleared her throat.</p><p>“Then why exactly are you sitting there rather than your normal spot?” Lila debated for barely a second before saying screw it and going with obnoxiously blunt.</p><p>“Because I refuse to have my back to a bunch of psychopaths who planned and carried out an attack on a fellow classmate.” The room exploded. It was funny if she was being honest. Max and Kim both looked a bit guilty so she had hope their conversation had done something. Alix was glaring at the floor so her she was less certain about. Everyone else was either trying to yell at each other or Marinette. Then there was Adrien, who kept giving the both of them disappointed looks. He really needed to stop that before she did something stupid. She watched as the teacher tried and failed to bring the class back to order. Honestly, Lila was surprised she even tried.</p><p>“Marinette’s obviously threatening her!” Lila just blew out a frustrated breath as half the class immediately agreed with Alya’s insanity. She moved to better block Marinette from their angry muttering, or worse, and tried to come up with something, anything, to make them see the truth. Time for someone else to get thrown under the bus.</p><p>“Ask Adrien. He knows I’ve been lying, just like Marinette said. He saw Ladybug call me out for it. He told her not to tell all of you.” The entire room went silent as one by one they turned to look at the model. The ‘oh shit’ look on his face was more satisfying than it should have been, but she didn’t bask in it long because she needed to see how the rest of them were likely to fall. Kim and Max looked even more guilty and Alex was glaring at Adrien had enough he should have felt it. Juleka and Rose both just seemed stunned. The rest were far harder to read and she wasn’t that great at it in the first place.</p><p>“Lila just needed attention, she would have stopped once she got it.” Lila just started cursing internally. It was bad enough he decided that she had the same motivation as him, but the fact that a good portion of the class seemed to be ready to agree with him just made her blood pressure go up.</p><p>“No I wouldn’t have. I’m not trying to make friends. I’m not trying to get people to like me. I don’t care what any of you think of me because all I want is to go back to homeschooling were I don’t have to deal with stupid drama like this. I’m not you Agreste and I have no tolerance for fools which is what all of you have proven to be.” Most of them looked stunned except for Chloe who just sat there with a smug smirk. She didn’t even want to guess what that was about.</p><p>“Now that’s rather harsh Lila, you should apologize.” She just pinned the teacher with a bland look.</p><p>“I will not. You’re worse than them. You’re supposed to be the ringleader of this circus and keep everyone in line. Not once did you check my excuses for being absent. Not once did you ask for or receive a doctor’s note for one of my medical issues. I don’t even understand how you’re still employed except for the fact that the principal is just as negligent as you are.” This time even Chloe was looking at her like she had a screw loose but she didn’t care. Unfortunately she wasn’t accomplishing what she wanted to either. Her goal was to get them to hate her instead of Marinette but too many of them were still giving her looks of pity. This was insanely frustrating.</p><p>“Look whatever it is you don’t have to worry. We know you’re a good person and we’ll still be your friends.” For the love of… Alya would not give up this nonsense. She was done with this. Lila stood, pulling Marinette with her and headed for the door.</p><p>“Lila what are you doing?” Marinette sounded slightly panicked.</p><p>“I’m taking you home so we can talk to your parents about a safer environment so you don’t get assaulted and I don’t get Akumatized.” She was trying to keep her emotions in check but it wasn’t something she was good at. She was also dead certain this subject wouldn’t be dropped until one or both of those things happened. They were almost out the front gate before she heard someone running after them.</p><p>“Lila! Why would you do that? Marinette tell her she can’t just say things like that and get everyone all upset.” Lila was perfectly willing to keep walking but Marinette stopped.</p><p>“She’s her own person Adrien and I’m not going to suggest she keep lying or do anything she’s not comfortable with just to make you feel more comfortable. I made the mistake of agreeing to keep quiet against my better judgement to make you happy because I wasn’t certain of my motives. Lila doesn’t have that problem, and I don’t either anymore. I’m sorry you don’t like what’s happening but this isn’t about you. And it isn’t about them either. Lila is doing what’s best for her.” Adrien actually stomped his foot.</p><p>“That’s just selfish. You can’t just let her hurt everyone with no better reason than that.” Lila was watching Marinette’s face, fully expecting her to cave. Not because it was Adrien either, just because she always seemed to put others first, regardless of the cost. Instead her expression hardened.</p><p>“Why not? It’s exactly what I let you do.” She turned and headed to the bakery and Lila was stunned enough that she didn’t move right away. When she saw the shocked expression on Adrien’s face she could help but laugh before she followed Marinette to the bakery.</p><p>“I think you broke him.” It was supposed to be a joke but Marinette just let out a tired sigh.</p><p>“I just wish I’d seen it sooner. I wish I’d done what I knew was the right thing.”</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they walked into the bakery Sabine took one look at Marinette almost in tears and Lila panicking because she had absolutely no idea how to fix it, and sent them upstairs with pastries. Lila had no idea what that was supposed to accomplish. Now she was just sitting in their living room watching Marinette like she was a bomb about to go off. She really didn’t do well with crying. She always managed to somehow make things worse.</p><p>“Do you think they were ever really my friends?” Marinette’s soft question caused her to freeze. Shit, how was she supposed to respond?</p><p>“I’m not the best person to ask that question considering I’ve never had friends before. I really don’t understand how people do or should interact with each other in that sense.” It didn’t help that she didn’t really try to learn either. Her entire focus when around other people, especially her own age, was to figure out how to get away from them. She was very good at pissing people off, not so much with the rest of it. Marinette was looking at her like she’d just admitted to murdering small animals in her spare time.</p><p>“No friends at all? But everyone likes you.” Lila could only blink at her in confusion for a moment before she realized what she meant.</p><p>“First of all, no one knows me, just the act I put on around other people. Second, most people realize when I’m lying and are annoyed by it wanting nothing to do with me, third I’m pretty sure the class is more concerned with keeping everyone in their specific box than actual friendship, or even getting to know people properly.” When she said it out loud it actually clarified the concept for her, but Marinette just looked confused.</p><p>“If they just wanted to keep things the same like that, why would they suddenly not like me?” And there was the hurt puppy look. She was tearing up again too. Damn it, why did she always make things worse?</p><p>“It’s not a matter of like or dislike. You’ve always been the one who is nice and helpful to everyone. When you started refusing to be that way with me it went against the box they had you in. They tried to shove you back in it at first. Remember how they kept asking you to go on outings or do favors for me?” She just nodded thoughtfully. “That was them trying to make you conform to their status quo. When you didn’t, it upset their little ecosystem and they lashed out. Apparently they don’t deal well with change.”</p><p>“So it’s my fault?” That’s definitely not what she meant and she had no idea how to explain it better.</p><p>“Of course not sweetheart. You can’t control other people’s thoughts or actions.” Sabine’s voice sounded from the doorway and Lila sent a prayer of thanks out to who or whatever had saved her from digging herself into a deep hole. “I think Lila is just trying to understand, and help you understand, that their actions didn’t have anything to do with whether or not they liked you as a person. I’m starting to think she’s right about that too. None of them ever cared or tried to stop Chloe from bullying you because that’s how it had always been. You not backing down about Lila lying seems to have broken them.” The woman’s dry tone was masking anger if her eyes were any indication. They said she was about two seconds from blowing up the school.</p><p>“So they weren’t really my friends then.” Marinette sounded resigned more than anything. Sabine just sat on the couch and pulled her into a hug.</p><p>“And that’s still not your fault. You deserve so much better, especially after all the things you did for them.” After that they just sat there in silence as Marinette calmed down. Seeing the way Sabine was with her… it hurt and Lila wasn’t sure why. The longer it lasted the more intrusive she felt.</p><p>“I should probably head home.” She was halfway out of her seat when Sabine pinned her with an annoyed look. Hell, what did she do now?</p><p>“And your mother is just fine with you being absent like this?” Lila just blinked at her for a moment before she remembered that, yes, parents were supposed to call the school to excuse an absence. She’d gotten so used to doing it herself here that it didn’t occur to her.</p><p>“As long as it’s not an inconvenience for her. She’s also out of Paris for the week so I doubt she cares what I do.” Sabine was still frowning at her.</p><p>“She’s leaving you completely by yourself for a week?” Lila nodded hesitantly. There was something in the woman’s tone that was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “And what if something happens? Did she make sure you have enough food for the week, or money to get more?”</p><p>“I’ll be fine. I have some money from contests that I’ve won.” Oh, that was not the right answer. She was fairly certain she’d never seen someone’s face turn that particular shade of red before. She braced for an explosion but when Sabine saw her curl in on herself she took a deep breath.</p><p>“And how often does something like this happen?” Lila hesitated. She had no idea what was making the woman so upset and as much as she didn’t want to lie she also really didn’t want to piss her off more.</p><p>“Her work is demanding. I’d say she’s usually gone overnight at least once a week. With Hawkmoth in the picture they prefer to hold meetings outside of Paris. Longer trips aren’t unheard of but they’re more sporadic.” She was looking for something to gauge the woman’s reaction but she’d gone completely neutral. That couldn’t be a good thing though… right?</p><p>“You’re staying here.” It wasn’t a question and it took Lila a second to really hear the words because she was trying to find something in her tone to figure out how much trouble she was in.</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?” Sabine just rolled her eyes. What the hell?</p><p>“Your mother may not be especially concerned with your safety and wellbeing but I am. You’re staying her where I can keep an eye on you.” Well she understood the last part of that at least.</p><p>“I know you have no reason to trust me, but I promise I’m not going to do anything to hurt Marinette.” Great, now she looked pissed again.</p><p>“That’s good to hear, but not what I meant. You’re staying here so that I know you’re safe and properly fed.” Lila could only blink at her for a moment.</p><p>“I don’t understand. I live in a secured building so it’s likely I’m safer there and like I said, I have money for food if I need it.” She had to be missing something. It was frustrating which was why she preferred math and science over people. None of this made sense to her. Sabine was giving her a thoughtful frown.</p><p>“It’s safer to be with other people who can help you than it is if you’re alone. And having money to buy food doesn’t mean you’ll be well fed. If you’re anything like most teenagers you’ll just load up on junk food.” Well she couldn’t argue with the first one because statistically she was correct in a broad sense.</p><p>“I’m not allowed to eat junk food.” Marinette giggled while Sabine gave an exasperated sigh.</p><p>“You’re still staying here.”</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lila walked out of her building with a duffle of clothes to last a few days and her computer. She still had no idea why she was agreeing to stay. Well other than the fact that Marinette’s mother terrified her. She would admit it was nice being around adults who didn’t only take notice of her flaws though.</p><p>“So what’s your game now? Get close to Dupain-Cheng so you can get better dirt on her?” Lila looked around in confusion for a moment before she spotted Chloe leaning against the building. How did Chloe even know where she lived?</p><p>“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I meant what I said today.” The girl just scoffed and rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Forget for a moment that you want me to believe a serial liar suddenly decided to tell the truth. If you really wanted to get expelled why didn’t you just go the direct route and come after me? It wouldn’t even take much to make that happen.” Lila let out a sigh. She’d considered it.</p><p>“Because your dad can cause problems for my mother and once she finds out it’s because of me I’m screwed. I want to go back to homeschooling, not end up locked in my room for weeks at a time or sent off to a reeducation camp for an attitude adjustment.” She shuddered at the thought. That had happened two years ago and she still had nightmares about that place.</p><p>“You’re serious aren’t you?” When she looked at Chloe the other girl was looking at her like a puzzle that needed to be figured out. A lot of the class seemed to be under the impression that the girl was your stereotypical dumb blonde but that look said otherwise even if Lila hadn’t already known better.</p><p>“Yes I’m serious. None of this was supposed to happen. Everyone was supposed to recognize bullshit when they heard it and ostracize me for it. After that it’s a quick road to me going back home.” She could hear the frustration in her own voice and tried to take some deep breaths to calm down. She was so tired of going over this with people.</p><p>“What are you going to do about it now? That scene this morning was only the beginning. You’ve seen how stubborn those peasants are.” Lila shot her a flat look.</p><p>“That’s none of your business or concern. I don’t see why you care anyway given that you hate me and Marinette.” That just got another eyeroll.</p><p>“Hatred is for equals which neither of you are. You’ve been a nuisance so far and I want to know what you have planned so I know if it will inconvenience me or not. Or I can have Daddy have a talk with your mother.” Damnit. She should have realized telling her that was a bad idea. God she hated people.</p><p>“I’m transferring, I hope.” Given her mother’s record of refusing to listen to her Lila was going to have to come up with an amazing argument.</p><p>“And Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe’s tone made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.</p><p>“I don’t know.” It wasn’t technically a lie. Marinette still hadn’t made up her mind. “She still seems to think they’ll all get over it in a few days.” Chloe actually laughed at that.</p><p>“That definitely sounds like her. She has no understanding of the way most people hold grudges. It’s sad really.” She gave Lila a searching look. “Let me know if you have any issues with that transfer. The sooner you’re gone the sooner I can get things back to normal.” After that she just turned and walked away. What the hell?</p><p>Lila spent the entire walk back to the bakery trying to figure out what the girls game was. Maybe she just didn’t like change, but if that was the case why hadn’t she done something about Lila sooner? It seemed like she wanted Marinette to stay at the school but Lila had no idea why. She didn’t really have an answer by the time she got back and she wondered if she should say something to Marinette’s parents.  </p><p>“Lunch is upstairs. After that you two should start filling out the forms for the scholarships and transferring.” Lila blinked at Sabine in surprise for a moment. She had only been gone for half an hour and they’d already convinced Marinette to transfer?</p><p>“I’m still not sure my mother will allow it.” Especially if she didn’t qualify for scholarships. It seemed like any extra expense was an automatic no. It was one of the reasons Lila was surprised she got sent to a therapist in the first place.</p><p>“Let me worry about your mother. You just get everything filled out so we can send it in. What?” Lila wasn’t certain what the look on her face was but it was apparently enough for Sabine to comment.</p><p>“I don’t think it’s a great idea for you to talk to her.”</p><p>“Why is that?” She was using that overly cheerful tone again. This was going to be bad. Lila stared at the floor when she answered.</p><p>“It usually just makes things worse. She really doesn’t like people disagreeing with her and it almost always ends up with me losing something.” Lila got more nervous as Sabine stayed silent. Finally she cleared her throat.</p><p>“Can you give me an example?” Her tone was off again and Lila peeked up at her but all she saw was confusion and concern.</p><p>“We were at some function outdoors and I brought my camera with me.” A camera she had paid for with her own money, but that never mattered either. “She told me to put it away and one of the other attendees said she should let me take photos instead of just getting bored. It was someone she didn’t want to argue with so she dropped it but when we got home the camera went in the garbage.”</p><p>“Did you argue with her about putting it away?”</p><p>“No. I don’t ever argue with her in public especially about something so small.” Honestly the only thing she tried to argue about anymore was school and even that was more out of habit and desperation.</p><p>“Go eat and get those forms filled out. We’ll deal with the rest when we see if the two of you get in.” Sabine gave her a little push to get her moving towards the stairs and Lila figured this wasn’t something worth arguing about either.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When she walked into the apartment Marinette was sitting on the floor by the coffee table going through a stack of papers. There was a second packet closer to the middle of the table. Lila hated filling things like that out. She was never sure how much information they needed or even if certain things were relevant. Given the unique nature of the school she had a feeling this was going to be worse.</p><p>“Do you know why Chloe is so invested in what you’re going to do about school?” Lila cursed at herself internally when Marinette jumped. She had a tendency to sneak up on people. It drove her mother insane. She’d actually put a motion sensor in her office doorway to make sure Lila didn’t see any of her work on accident. At least that’s what she said.</p><p>“Chloe?” Lila wasn’t certain if the confusion was from the question or the surprise.</p><p>“Yes. She was waiting for me after I got my stuff. She wanted to know what my game with you was and when I told her it wasn’t a game she seemed too interested in what your plans are.” More confusion. That had to be from the question right?</p><p>“That doesn’t make sense. Unless she’s making fun of me she acts like I don’t exist. Are you sure it was me she was worried about?” Lila replayed the conversation in her head again. Chloe wanted her gone, that was obvious, but she didn’t seem to care beyond that. When she’d asked about Marinette though… that was a different tone.</p><p>“Fairly certain. It was weird. Why exactly doesn’t she like you anyway?” Not that Chloe needed a reason other than feeling like they were beneath her, but it seemed like more. Marinette was her favorite target from Lila could tell.</p><p>“I think I hurt her feelings.” Well that was vague. She motioned for Marinette to continue. “When we first started school, everyone else seemed to be afraid of Chloe, or at least wanted to keep their distance.”</p><p>“But you were nice to her.” It wasn’t a question. That was just who she was.</p><p>“We were really close for a little while but everyone else hated me because I was friends with Chloe. I told her that I wanted to be friends with everyone and she didn’t take it well.” As dramatic as Chloe was that really didn’t seem like enough to set her off.</p><p>“So basically you said you wanted more friends and she started bullying you.” Marinette nodded. “But because of that you did end up getting more friends.” It was a logical conclusion but Marinette was looking at her like she’d lost her mind.</p><p>“That’s not… I mean yes but… You don’t think that was on purpose?” That hadn’t actually occurred to her but it was a possibility.</p><p>“Well, Chloe’s been entrenched in politics her entire life because of her father. I suppose she could have seen it as helping. Her resentment now would likely be because you didn’t realize what she’d done and she thinks you’re being ungrateful.” That sounded like Chloe. Lila had to wonder if the girl hadn’t stopped her lies just so that Marinette would find out how good she had things.</p><p>“So… she’s a better friend than the others?” Lila just blinked at Marinette. She couldn’t follow the girls reasoning. “I mean, I was her only friend and she gave that up so that I could have something I wanted. Maybe things didn’t turn out the way she expected, but she was trying to help.” Convoluted, but possibly accurate.</p><p>“I suppose you could see it that way, though I don’t know that it makes things better. Especially if she tries to cause problems for you once she finds out you’re not going back.” That at least got a thoughtful frown, but not the worry she thought Marinette should be feeling.</p><p>“I’ll talk to her. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.” Lila felt her eye twitch and she had to take a few deep breaths. She really didn’t understand that sort of optimism. Or delusion. She still couldn’t figure out which it was.</p><p>“Not alone.” Marinette opened her mouth to argue. “I mean it. No offense but you’re a terrible judge of what people are capable of and Chloe is not someone you want to underestimate. Maybe you’ll be able to explain things and it will be alright, or maybe she’ll accidentally push you down a flight of stairs. Having a witness is just common sense.” Marinette didn’t answer but she looked thoughtful at least. She decided to give her time to think about that problem. “So does this school require your firstborn or will a blood sacrifice suffice?” She just got a blank look for a moment before Marinette giggled.</p><p>“Neither. Though given the amount of forms, papercuts could make the blood sacrifice happen regardless. There’s at least ten pages that look like some sort of personality test. All the questions are open ended and you have to answer them on your own paper because there’s definitely no room between the questions.” Oh that wasn’t good.</p><p>“Yeah, there’s no way I’m getting into that school. The last time I had to take a test like that I was sent out of the country we were in.” She still had no idea why either. All she knew is that she’d been sent to that awful reeducation facility. They claimed it was a school for brilliant but troubled youths, but the only thing she’d learned there was how to keep her head down and how to answer their questions so she could get out. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.”</p><p>“I’ll help you. Maybe you just didn’t understand all the questions. We could talk about different scenarios and possibilities before you write anything down.” Lila just frowned at her.</p><p>“That sounds like cheating.” Marinette looked shocked at the idea before shaking her head.</p><p>“I’m not going to tell you what to put down. We’ll just go over the questions so that we both are more certain what they mean. Some of them are worded oddly.” Lila still wasn’t convinced but honestly, she couldn’t afford to screw this up. Going behind her mother’s back to do this in the first place was going to cause enough drama. If her mother found out she tried and failed… yeah she didn’t want to think about that.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lila waited, fidgeting uncontrollably as Sabine read through the answers to the personality test. She said she was just proofreading but Lila had a feeling that Marinette had told her that she was worried about the answers. The longer she read the less Lila could read in her expression. She was so screwed.</p><p>“Mari said you were sent away the last time you filled one of these out?” Lila just winced and nodded. Great, the woman must have figured out what was wrong with her. There was no way she wasn’t going back to that compound now. “Do you know why you were sent away?”</p><p>“Because my answers were unacceptable and I need to learn to appreciate what I have.” She should have just lied but the problem was she didn’t know what the right answers were and knowing her luck she would have made it worse.</p><p>“That’s the reason your mother gave you?” Lila nodded. Someone had come to talk to her mother after she’d done the test and as soon as the woman left Lila was treated to a five hour long lecture about all the things wrong with her and all the things in her life she should be grateful for. The next day she was on a plane out of the country. “Did she say why your answers were unacceptable?”</p><p>“I… I don’t think so. Not specifically at least.” There had been a lot of yelling but her mother hadn’t given her any specific answers to explain why she was so angry. “She kept calling me ungrateful and saying that I was making her look bad, that I could hurt her career. But she didn’t explain how I did that.” Sabine muttered something that Lila couldn’t catch.</p><p>“Your mother was blaming you for her own failings. Do you have any other relatives that you’re aware of?” Lila blinked at the woman in confusion for a moment, not understanding what she meant about her mother. She decided to ignore it for the moment.</p><p>“I’m not sure. Mom never talked about anyone, from either side. I… I think I might have a half sister though.” She’d been trying to remember anything other than that nightmare and hadn’t come up with much but there were a few clues. “I think I called her Teddy, but that wasn’t her name. And I think… I’m pretty certain my name wasn’t always Lila. That or everyone called me something else too.” She couldn’t remember exactly what but she was certain it wasn’t Lila. She also had vivid memories from when she was little of her mother calling her name and getting extremely upset when she didn’t answer.</p><p>“So you think your name was changed when you were younger?” Lila shrugged. It made the most sense but it was still more of a feeling than anything else. She didn’t have any proof. “Do you have any pictures of yourself when you were young? Around the time you think that happened?”</p><p>“I’m not sure but I doubt it.” She didn’t understand why Sabine wanted to know but she decided it was an innocuous enough question. “There aren’t any family pictures that I’m aware of and if there are they’d be in Mom’s office. I’m not allowed in there.” She saw Sabine’s expression tighten. “I’d try but I know she has motion sensors in there and quite probably cameras.”</p><p>“Lila, I’m not upset that you don’t want to look. I’m annoyed that your mother seems to think any of this is okay. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Lila could only frown at the woman in confusion. Parents were supposed to be right weren’t they? She just wasn’t living up to her mother’s expectations so she had to be the problem… right? “I’m going to drop off both your applications so I can explain a few things to the principal and hopefully make sure he doesn’t try to contact your mother for the time being.”</p><p>“You know why my answers made the school talk to my Mother the last time don’t you?” Sabine hesitated. Well that was a yes.</p><p>“I understand why they would have been concerned for you. I doubt they are the ones that actually spoke to your mother though.” Something about the way she worded that was odd but Lila couldn’t figure out why.</p><p>“So there is something wrong with me.” She didn’t expect the stern look Sabine pinned her with.</p><p>“There’s something wrong with everyone but in this case you are not the problem.” That made absolutely no sense. She was the constant, that meant she had to be the problem. “How would you feel about staying here until we get the school situation sorted out?” She couldn’t even process that question.</p><p>“What? You shouldn’t want me here.” The look she was getting said she was out of her mind but she didn’t understand how these people didn’t hate her let alone were so tolerant. “Sure right now I’m not a problem, but what if I go back to old habits? What if this is just a ruse to make you feel sorry for me? You know next to nothing about me other than I got your daughter assaulted.”</p><p>“Lila, you need to calm down.” Sabine sounded concerned and Lila realized she was close to tears. She didn’t understand why though. Yes she was frustrated but that wasn’t it. “I know more about you than that. Do you really think I haven’t been looking into the things you’ve told us? Just breathe and tell me why you’re so upset.”</p><p>“I don’t know!” None of this made sense. Why was she so on edge here? I wasn’t just because she thought they were insane to let her stay here. Insanity she was used to. There had to be something else. When her brain finally processed the problem she could have slapped herself. She hesitated saying it out loud though. “I think it’s the waiting to see what you’re going to do to me. My Mother’s punishments are always immediate, sometimes before I even know I did anything wrong. But here it’s like waiting for a bomb to go off and you have no idea where it is or how long you have left.” Sabine just looked confused at first but her expression turned horrified once she seemed to understand what Lila was talking about.</p><p>“Lila we’re not going to punish you for the things you’ve done in the past. If there need to be consequences for your actions we would discuss it as they come up. It serves no purpose to wait until a person has time to forget what they’ve done wrong. There’s also the fact that we’re not your parents so it’s really not our place to do so. There are no traps that you have to worry about.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Despite Sabine’s assurances, Lila continued to stay on edge. She wanted to believe the woman, really, but nothing in her experiences gave her a reason to. It didn’t help her paranoia at all when she kept walking into the living room to find Sabine on the phone and the woman hurriedly said goodbye and hung up. After the third time, Lila just decided to stay in Marinette’s room until someone called her for meals. It didn’t help the feeling of impending doom, no matter how hard she tried to distract herself.</p><p>“Marinette, Lila, would you girls come down here please?” Sabine’s request caused her to shoot Marinette a worried look but the girl just shrugged at her. It was very unhelpful. She followed slowly behind the other girl, trying to gauge the woman’s mood. She was smiling, and it looked genuine. She really sucked at reading people. “You both got in with full scholarships!” Marinette let out a happy squeal but Lila could only stand there in shock. Sabine was holding out an envelope to her and she reached for it on instinct. She got in?</p><p>“How?” That really wasn’t what she meant to come out of her mouth but it was the only word running through her head. There was no way a school that prestigious would let her in, not with all the expulsions on her record. Because despite her mother’s best threats, some of those schools did insist on a paper trail.  Sabine’s expression softened.</p><p>“I spoke to them about some of your situation and I managed to get the therapists you actually saw to write letters on your behalf.” Lila felt her cheek twitch at the thought of being pitied by the administration. Hold on…</p><p>“How did you get them to agree to that? I didn’t think they’d give information to anyone but the patient or legal guardian.” Sabine sighed.</p><p>“Marinette, why don’t you go tell your father the good news?” The girl practically bounced out of the room in her excitement but Lila could only concentrate on the knot in her stomach and the serious look on Sabine’s face. “Why don’t we sit?” That couldn’t be good. She fidgeted as she perched on the edge of a chair.</p><p>“You didn’t talk to my mother did you?” It seemed like the only explanation but at the same time there was no way her mother would have agreed to release her medical records.</p><p>“No I didn’t.” Lila let out a relieved sigh as Sabine continued. “I’ve been gathering information about your situation and I went to them to explain some things, including you being given medication. All of them were horrified and I had to keep them from calling the police.” Okay now she was really confused.</p><p>“She’s got diplomatic immunity. Even if she actually did anything illegal it wouldn’t matter.” Sabine’s expression tightened and she wondered what she’d said wrong.</p><p>“Lila, your mother is abusing you.” She frowned at the woman in confusion. That couldn’t be true. Sure she was strict and she did things Lila didn’t agree with… but abuse? “I’ve been putting together proof to give to a friend who is a news anchor. Diplomatic immunity or not, that kind of bad press will cripple her career. I’m planning on talking to her once she’s back in Paris to give her a choice.”  </p><p>“What choice?” Lila heard her voice crack. She cleared it before continuing. “Let me go to school or you’ll give the proof to the media.” Sabine was studying her but Lila couldn’t figure out why.</p><p>“That is far too easy to undo later. She’s going to need to give up custody of you to keep all this quiet.” Lila felt like she’d been punched in the chest. She couldn’t figure out why. Yes, her mother was all she knew, but they’d never more than inhabited the same space. She hadn’t been kidding when she told Ladybug she was certain her mother wished she had never been born, but for some reason the thought of the woman giving her away just to keep her career hurt. She didn’t realize she was crying until Sabine wiped some of the moisture from her face. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but I do believe it is for the best.”</p><p>“Who would take custody of me?” The words came out without conscious thought. Who would want her was a better question. If the woman who gave birth to her would be willing to give her away why would anyone else be willing to take her in?</p><p>“There are two options.” Sabine’s voice was gentle. Lila couldn’t help but compare it to someone trying to soothe a wounded animal. Two? Her confusion must have shown. “Tom and I have been doing some digging into your past as well. The first option would be for us to take you in. You’d either have to share a room with Mari, or board at the school. She’s fine with either by the way.”</p><p>“She’s too forgiving, but I thought you would be more cautious.” Sabine gave a surprised blink before she huffed something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. “What… what’s the other option?” Her expression sobered quickly.</p><p>“We found your sister. She’ll be here this afternoon and we’ll go from there.” A buzzing seemed to take over her thoughts. Nothing would form properly. Later, she’d be able to process the concern on Sabine’s face and wonder what her expression was to cause it. “Nothing is decided Lila. We aren’t just going to let someone you don’t know take off with you. Do you want to see her?”</p><p>Nothing seemed to penetrate the fog her mind turned into. She could see Sabine’s lips moving still, but she didn’t hear anything. Eventually, her mind managed to form an image. It was the same room that her nightmare took place in, but there was no fire. Just the other girl. The one person who always protected her. Until the fire, this was the only place she felt safe.</p><p>“I want to see her.” She knew that the words came from her but she didn’t recognize the tone. It was small and timid. Sabine’s hand on her shoulder finally seemed to ground her a bit.</p><p>“We’ll take things as slow as you need to. She doesn’t want to push you but… I think you should know that everyone told her you’d died in the fire along with your father. She didn’t know she should have been looking for you.” The words broke something in her. Before she knew it she heard herself sobbing and Sabine’s arms were pulling her into a hug. Even through the tears she could feel something surfacing. The long buried hope that someone would actually care if she didn’t exist anymore.</p>
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